Out now: CPRE South East eBulletin

The June 2020 Issue of the independently compiled and written CPRE South East eBulletin is now out, covering news from the region. Topics include:

• Calls for a Green Legacy following lockdown as strong evidence of a surge in the appreciation of access to green spaces for people’s health and wellbeing and a demonstrable desire to protect and enhance these spaces following lockdown
• Radical Planning Reform proposals by the Housing Secretary which could leave many communities at risk from inappropriate housing developments, reduced or no affordable housing, and poorly designed homes
• The Impact of Covid-19 on emissions, planning, and a call for a green-led economic recovery across all sectors
• New energy projects in the South East
• South East Local Plan controversies – including the pause into Bracknell Forest Council’s local plan, containing the proposal for a new inappropriate and large-scale housing development on Green Belt land at Jealott’s Hill which CPRE Berkshire is campaigning hard against.
• Regional Round Up – including Berkshire news from Welford and Wickham, Shinfield, Finchampstead, Wokingham, and White Waltham.
• ‘Mend the Gap’ – news of the joint project between the North Wessex Downs and Chilterns AONBs, both damaged by electrification of the Great Western Railway. The £3.75m programme is funded by Network Rail.
• A new report on significant research in support of a new Green Belt in the countryside north of the urban centres in South Hampshire
• News about the progress of the new Agriculture and Environment Bills through parliament
• A housing and planning section, which notes that Reading Borough Council has the second highest housing scheme approval rate in the south east, at 80%
• News on environment, energy and resources plans that may impact the region
• Evidence that new Garden Communities proposed by central government are designed around car-led lifestyles, located too far from existing transport hubs, meaning that sustainable transport is relegated to the bottom of the agenda
• Road building in the law Courts – specifically in relation to increases in air pollution
• High Speed 2 – construction, planning, and protest news
• An extension of planning permissions until April 2021, if it was due to lapse between March and December 2020.

You can read the full bulletin here